It"s no secret that most busy American mothers use the TV set as a live-in babysitter. In some households the tube holds a child"s attention for the odd half hour or two while mom works on dinner; in others it is the child"s constant daytime companion. Is there any harm in this?

Debate rages over the question, and periodically research is published showing that TV reduces attention span, makes children jumpy or inclines them to violence. In today"s cartoon David Horsey makes fun of the claims of "children"s TV", the special programming that supposedly uses entertainment to help youngsters to learn to read and take their first steps in the big, diverse world outside their family. What do children really get from this programming?

Horsey"s suspicion is that children"s programming chiefly turns kids into TV addicts, not into readers or happy mixers①. The toddler in the cartoon, still at the age of pacifiers and stuffed animals, is held spellbound by the figure on the screen. What is the stimulating message of this creature specifically designed to fascinate small children? "Can you say TV?" The sooner the kid learns the word, the more effectively he can remind -- or nag -- his mother to turn on the boob tube.

A child hooked on TV is a viewer open to commercial messages, and there are plenty of those targeting children of all ages. Thus, at the very least, mom"s search for peace and quiet sets the stage for her child"s transformation into an American consumer -- and, of course, soaks up time that could be used for other, perhaps more desirable, transformations.

在美国，很多忙碌的母亲把电视当成住在家里的保姆，这已不是什么秘密。在有些家庭中，当妈妈做饭时电视会拴住孩子的注意力，有时是半小时甚至两小时。还有些家庭，电视就是孩子整天的伙伴。这种情况有什么害处吗？

对这一问题的争论十分激烈，相关研究也在定期发表，这些研究表明，电视缩小了孩子们的兴趣范围，使孩子们变得心绪不宁，产生暴力倾向。在今天的漫画中，漫画家戴维-霍尔西嘲笑了“儿童电视节目”的自我标榜，这种电视节目据说是用娱乐方式来帮助儿童学习认字，帮助儿童向家庭之外的大千世界迈出第一步。但是孩子们从这种节目中真正得到了什么呢？

霍尔西认为，儿童节目的主要功能是把儿童变成电视迷，而不是变成爱读书的人或是善于与不同的人相处的人。漫画中刚学走步的孩子还处于叼奶嘴和玩毛绒动物玩具的年龄，可已经被电视上的人物迷住了。而这个被设计成非常吸引小孩子的形象正在启发孩子什么呢？--“你会说‘电视’这个词吗？”只要孩子一学会这个词，他就能更明确地提醒妈妈--更可能是纠缠妈妈--打开会把人变蠢的电视。

被电视拴住的孩子对商业广告毫无限制地接受，而商业广告中有很多针对所有年龄段的孩子。因此，妈妈想通过电视让孩子安静下来的做法，其负面影响往最小了说，是为把孩子变成成天想着买东西的人打下了基础--当然，这还使孩子把时间全耗费在电视上了，而这些时间本可以用在对孩子成长更有意义的事情上。